Another birthday...

It's interesting having a birthday on a day like today. Most of the time people ask me if it's bad that I have a birthday this close to Christmas. In a way, it kind of is. A lot of times, from a gift receiving standpoint, it can go either way. Sometimes I get two when others get one, sometimes I get one big thing. This year, I mainly got one thing from anyone who isn't my parents, which is fine.

I enjoyed giving this year, as I have for the past few years. The big hit of all the things I gave was the Yoda nutcracker I gave my sister (we call her Yoda because she's short and she talks funny, but not as funny as the Star Wars Yoda). It's almost like everyone wants to stop what they're doing to see what I got her this year. And honestly, everyone seemed to like what I got them. That's good, but I can't take all the credit because a lot of what I got was actually purchased by someone else, and I just paid them back for it. When you follow a championship football team like I do with Appalachian State, it's very easy to lose track of time until the games end and it's suddenly December 14 and I haven't done anything yet.

I got some interesting items, including a couple gift cards and a Super Mushroom like the ones from the Super Mario video games. I get something Snoopy on a yearly basis, because I like him, and this year's Snoopy thing was a little plush one with a lighted shirt that flashes when it plays the Linus and Lucy song. Pretty cool.

I love this time of year. It offers me time to look back on the things the Lord has done. Lots of times on this blog I have (and will) talked about the specific things He's done in my own life, but in terms of the Christmas season, it's an everybody thing. We can all celebrate this one because the virgin birth of Jesus was the first step in our salvation. After his birth, he would grow up like all humans do, then go through his ministry with the Apostles, and then shed His blood for us on the cross.

Isn't it incredible to think about? That someone as big as God would care about us so much to send his son to die for us so we could be with Him? As the song goes, if that isn't love, the ocean is dry. It gives me chills to think about.

There's a song that is apparently sung by a couple artists called "Wish." The version I listen to is sung by Joy Williams. In the song, she's singing about actually being there back in those days when Jesus was born, all the way through His life to see what it was all like back then, "to see You feed the people, to feel the healing in Your touch." Wow! What a thought!

They talked in church today about trying to talk about the Lord and not being able to say it right. I know how that feels now. There's no good way for words to explain the feeling I get when I think about the life of Jesus and all the things the Lord has done for me...and all of us!

So, with 12 minutes to go until the day we celebrate the birth of our Lord, think about these things...ponder them in your heart. You will get a blessing more important than anything you'll unwrap in the next 24 hours.

That's why, back in my church last night, I wasn't looking for any recognition when our Pastor said something about it being my birthday. As far as I'm concerned, that was a Christmas program, to send praise to the Lord for sending Jesus to us. My 29th birthday drastically pales in comparison to that.

Ya gotta focus, man!

Back from a long break...the fact that the long break exists reminds me of something I discovered a few weeks back.

There's no big story to this, nothing big that happened or any such thing. It's just that I've noticed over the last few months that to live for the Lord, you have to be focused.

Back in college, I had no focus at all. Subconsciously, I figured that I could just coast along in life, and as long as I missed the big bumps in the road, I'd be fine. That's okay, I guess, but that's not how it should be, by a long shot.

Thanks be to the Lord that during college, I had at least that little bit of focus to stay out of the bad spots, because it was there on a pretty regular basis. Even as recently as my Tunica, Mississippi, trip in August of 2006 I was close to some pretty bad stuff when I was staying in a casino for four days. Thankfully for me, the Lord was with me all of those times (and He still is!), and when those tempting times came in Tunica, I simply went to sleep, knowing that I absolutely had to get up on time the next morning.

In an effort to keep my focus up, I'm going to start a project on 1/1/08. I'm going to Read the Bible in 90 days. Click here for more. In all my years, I've never read through the Bible, but I'm going to. Now, I'm not using the version those folks use...namely, you can get a bookmark to print out that will tell you what scriptures to read each day, and that's what I plan to use. I won't get into issues regarding what version of the Bible is better here. I use the King James Version, I have since the beginning and I see no need to change now.

That said, as I pass particularly interesting points in the Scriptures, I'll post here on those things and elaborate a bit. I know, it's all interesting, but I'm referring to things that demand my making a comment on it, essentially.

Anyone who wants to join me, let me know!